John Ivison: Liberals position themselves to left of NDP

On balance, I think we will avoid an election this spring – senior figures in the NDP admit they are “not itching” to go to the polls.

But that may change if the Liberals continue to campaign to the left of the Dippers, positioning themselves as more socialist than the socialists, albeit lefties with a taste for champagne.

The Grits released two new television ads Friday, with the tagline: “Is this your Canada or Harper’s?”

One takes aim at the Conservative government’s decision to sole source the new generation of fighter jets, at a cost of $16-billion. The other targets the government’s move to reduce corporate taxes.

My sense is it is not a bad idea to tap into the vague unease many Canadians have about the Prime Minister’s more dictatorial tendencies. The line in the second ad that “it’s harder than ever to get by” may also resonate.

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But campaigning on the left of the NDP on defence and taxes, with a leader who most Canadians have been persuaded eats more oysters than Egg McMuffins, is a recipe for an early election. Even many Liberals feel that Michael Ignatieff lacks conviction about some of the party’s more “progressive” policies. Neither ad even mentions the leader or attempts to counter the impression that he can’t be trusted to run the economy.

The NDP are convinced that the left-leaning Liberal voters who stayed loyal to Stéphane Dion in 2008 are ripe for the plucking under Mr. Ignatieff. At the same time, the Conservatives are out to reel in right-leaning Liberals, who are hardly likely to be enamoured by a narrative that rests on the leader’s plan to hike corporate taxes. The message that seems to emerge from the ads is: we are divided in mind and we don’t know what we want, other than to be in power.

In the face of such confusion, both the Conservatives and NDP may decide to park their objections to a spring election and strike before the Liberal Party decides to throw its leader overboard.

UPDATE:

As the NDP helpfully reminded us in a press release (see below), the Liberal aversion to corporate tax cuts does not have deep roots. In fact, the Grits have consistently campaigned on cutting corporate tax rates even deeper than the Conservatives – at least until they realized they would need to find some money from somewhere to pay for their own campaign promises.

“We will accelerate and deepen the currently planned corporate tax cuts, reducing the general corporate tax rate by an additional one per cent within four years. That means the federal corporate tax rate in Canada will be only 14 per cent by the 2012.” – Liberal press release, June 19, 2008

NDP Press Realease:

NDP REALITY CHECK: Ignatieff attacks his own corporate tax cuts
Today the Liberal party released TV ads attacking their very own corporate tax cuts.
The new Liberal attack ads give the impression they oppose corporate tax giveaways. One doesn’t have to look far into the past to see these claims ring hollow.Recent statements:“We will cut corporate taxes again” – Michael Ignatieff, Liberal.ca, May 16, 2010Voting Record:On December 4, 2007 the vote on C-28, Budget and Economic Statement, occurred. C-28 included the current round of radical corporate tax cuts, and every single Liberal MP evaded the House of Commons, allowing the Harper government to pass the latest round of generous tax giveaways to the most profitable banks and multinational oil companies.Liberal Platform 2008:Both before and during the last election campaign, Liberals actually campaigned on “one-upping” the Conservatives on corporate tax giveaways.
“We will accelerate and deepen the currently planned corporate tax cuts, reducing the general corporate tax rate by an additional one per cent within four years. That means the federal corporate tax rate in Canada will be only 14 per cent by the 2012.” – Liberal press release, June 19, 2008
Like every previous corporate tax cut, the ones implemented on January 1st 2011, were given the stamp of approval by the Liberal Party.
Ignatieff’s actions speak louder than any attack ad. He has campaigned time and time again on lowering corporate taxes.How can Canadians trust any leader who runs so fast from his own record?